So Afraid Of Deaths Door

Chapter 2: A Stray Robin

A/N: Yep, were back for chapter two where things really take off for the main plot, so... look out. Please R&R!

Description: It finally happened, Slade Wilson knew it would happen sooner or later thanks to his time in the military, but he had hoped to be more ready for it. After the zombies come in massive numbers, Slade loses his two sons and wife, but is immune to the virus thanks to military experiments in his youth. But now, Slade finds a six year old orphaned acrobat while traveling and trying to survive, can he protect this little boy from harm, or will he fail another son?

Note: This story will have random updates and may not update for a month or two at a time.

Preview For Chapter: Slade is trying to fulfill a contract to deal with a group of rebels... only to find its a bunch of little orphans trying to survive. But when Slade befriends one of the orphans called only as Robin, will he risk his life to save him?

Preview

Slade stared with wide eyes at the group of children.

"Where are your parents?" He asked quietly.

The children exchanged worried glances, Vince frowned at Slade from behind Roy. "Dead."

Slade stared behind Vince. He could just barely make out a tiny child that looked to be hiding. "Who is that?" He asked.

Vince blinked before turning to the boy behind him with a kind smile. "Come on out Robin, don't be shy."

A small skinny boy with barely any body weight crawled out of his hiding place in an opened heating vent, he looked terrified and mailnurished. The child stared at Slade with masked eyes that looked to be weakly made to cover the child's eyes and hide his identity. He suddenly glared at Slade dispite his obvious fear of him.

"Excuse him, he's the most... damaged... from the apocalypse of us." The red headed boy whispered to Slade.

~Break Line~

Slade Wilson sighed as he climbed up the large hill leading to, by rumor, an abandoned toy factory that apparently now houses a group of skilled assassins and warriors. In the mercenaries honest opinion, he thought it was a mere rumor, ever since the apparent apocalypse he had been working as a killer and had yet to see or hear of these so called 'Titans' as his empolyer called them. The Titans had been stealing merely food and water and medical supplies from the empolyer, so, he wanted them dead. And Slade was going to deliver. The man stared with wide eyes at the factory, it was old and mostly destroyed, but otherwise it was a great spot to try and survive in save for the small amount of materials and supplies in the area. It was no wonder that these assassins had to steal to survive, it was there only choice.

The hired mercenary waltz towards the factory with his guard up, he may have never heard of the Titans, but he had for sure fought multiple assassins in his day and knew better then to act cocky around them. Sudden, he stopped as his eyes met a little girl that looked to be seven or eight with her eyes closed knocked out on the ground. On instinct, he ran to her side to help her. The girl jumped and screamed 'NOW' before Slade could even grab her. Suddenly, everything went black!

~Break Line~

Slade opened his eyes and mentally groaned, of course the girl was bait, but he had for a moment seen his son Grant and was unable to stop himself from 'saving' the child. The mercenary blinked as the world unblurred before his eyes, he couldn't believe his eyes!

Children. There were at least twenty children surrounding him as he sat tied to a chair with his weapons all stacked up on a table where the smaller children couldn't reach them. A red headed boy with bright green eyes and a bow and arrow satchel on his back came forward, he held a knife to Slade's chest as he stood in front of him, from the looks of it, the kid was only nine or ten. The boy nodded towards the girl from before that had played as bait, the girl disappeared but reappeared minutes after with a small bowl water. The boy held the bowl to Slade's lips.

"Drink." He ordered.

Slade followed the command and sighed as he tried to relax in the chair, he needed to remain calm and find out where there leader was. "Where is your leader?" He asked.

The children shrugged. "No one." The red headed boy confirmed. "But its mostly me and Vince, I'm Roy or Speedy as others call me."

Slade stared with wide eyes at the group of children.

"Where are your parents?" He asked quietly.

The children exchanged worried glances, Vince frowned at Slade from behind Roy. "Dead."

Slade stared behind Vince. He could just barely make out a tiny child that looked to be hiding. "Who is that?" He asked.

Vince blinked before turning to the boy behind him with a kind smile. "Come on out Robin, don't be shy."

A small skinny boy with barely any body weight crawled out of his hiding place in an opened heating vent, he looked terrified and malnourished. The child stared at Slade with masked eyes that looked to be weakly made to cover the child's eyes and hide his identity. He suddenly glared at Slade despite his obvious fear of him.

"Excuse him, he's the most... damaged... from the apocalypse of us." The red headed boy whispered to Slade.

Slade nodded, he had heard alot about groups of orphans working together in tribes of a sort, sadly, they were usually taken advantage of. "Why are you here?" He asked.

"Why are YOU here, huh?" The girl asked, a small scarf around her neck read 'Barbara'.

Slade smirked. "I was hired to assassinate a group of assassins called the Titans, is that you?" He asked.

Roy nodded. "How much are they paying you?"

"Ten thousand checks." Slade answered, now adays people used cards called checks as currency in America. "Why? I doubt you can double that."

Roy smiled a dark smirk. "Oh, we won't double it sir, were going to give you a choice. You can forget all about this mission and the money and leave with your life, or we kill you. Think about it, your in no position to really decide unless you really are loyal... Deathstroke."

A few of the children whimpered at that name, well, it seems that children even knew of Deathstroke's work as a mercenary. Slade smiled. "Really? Well, I refuse both options."

"Fine." Roy answered. "Vince!"

The boy Vince ran to Roy's side. "Yes sir?" He asked.

"Prepare the dogs!" He announced, the other smaller children already started either crying or wincing.

Slade rolled his eyes. "Fine, put me in a pit full of wild dogs... see what happens."

Roy nodded in understanding, part of the boy knew not to be too cocky around the famous Deathstroke, but he doubted the man could take down three rabid massive dogs without a single weapon. Of course, he planed to make sure none of the younger kids watched, he knew better then to let such young children see a huge bloodbath. He smirked as Vince announced that the dogs were ready and in the pin, perfect.

"Thank you, Vince. Please, everyone that's in the Pup rank please wait with Barbara in the kitchen." He instructed.

Slade frowned. "Ranks? You all have ranks? So... there is a leader then."

"Sort of." A girl with red hair and bright green eyes said. "Some kids are in the Pup rank, meaning there either one, two or three years old. Or even in the Beta rank at four, five and six, but if your seven or eight then you go to the Meta rank."

Slade nodded. "And what if your older?"

"Only Barbara, Roy and Vince are over that age, there all nine." The girl, named Kori, answered.

Suddenly, Slade was released and led by the hand by Robin towards one of the doors that looked to lead outside. It was obvious that these children had little skills in fighting and more importantly, killing. But, Slade could tell that they were just trying to survive, this was actually his first time seeing a real orphan tribe, he had actually figured that it was only a bunch of bull shit considering that he didn't think there were THAT many orphans that could actually SURVIVE on there own.

He was wrong.

Slade Wilson was finally allowed outside, he squinted and was finally allowed to see just what he was up against. Three dogs, large, probably mutts, definitely untrained by the looks of it. Out of the corner of his only working eye, Slade could see Robin lingering nearby with a small elephant stuffed animal in hand and a dog leash connected to the collar of a tiny German Shepard puppy. The mercenary sat next to the boy on the ground as a horn blew through the air, he was mostly copying the other children's movements.

"So, is that your dog?" Slade asked Robin.

Robin nodded as he waved the hand with the leash in hand. "Yes. His name is Ace, he's an orphan too, so we stick together."

"I see, so... how old are you?" Slade asked.

Robin sighed. "I'm only four, but I'm the tribes best fighter! See, I can do all sorts of acrobat stuff since I'm from the circus! I'd show you, but your gonna die in a second and there's no room."

Slade was surprised, most children would be more afraid of death. "Oh? You think I'll die? Are you not afraid of death?"

Slade barely noticed Robin's hand tighten around the dog leash. "A bit, but I'm used to it by now."

"Used to it? No one gets used to death, Robin." Slade told the boy.

Robin shook his head. "No, I'm used to it. I saw everyone die, my family, the circus... even Mr. Wayne died when he tried to help me. So now when people die, I still cry, but I move on faster."

This worried the mercenary, even he was to a degree uncomfortable with death. But this child, who was only four, was used to it? This wasn't right, not at all, children shouldn't be afraid of death. Before Slade could say anything in return, he paused as he heard a deep rumble.

Oh god, no...

They had come, his employer had warned Slade that if he didn't get the job done within ten hours of leaving that he send soldiers to do it for him, soldiers that wouldn't hesitate to murder a group of innocent children. This was bad, so very bad. Without thinking, Slade grabbed ahold of Robin and his puppy and ducked into the warehouse. Ignoring the child's screaming and whining, he hid the three of them (If you included the puppy) in a storage closet and dead-bolted the door, however, he and Robin could easily see outside.

"Wanna explain why were playing hide and seek, its not even-" Robin started, but stopped as he recognized the employers insignia on an incoming tank. "Oh no..."

Slade frowned. "You know who they are, too?"

"Yeah, we only stole a bit of food... we had to... they'll-"

"Yes. They'll kill them, Robin. Just... don't look, everything's going to be okay." Slade reassured the already whimpering child.

Robin shook his raven hair covered head. "No, that's what they always say but its never true, never ever!"

Slade could only accept that, he knew all too well that he was only trying to help the boy with the stress, but it would do no good. Instead, he could only watch as the leader/employer exited the tank with a smile.

"So... I'm guessing Deathstroke is dead? And to a bunch of children? Well... I guess I'll just do it for him." Brother Blood said before reentering a tank.

"FIRE!"

And so, the air was filled with screaming, sobbing and the sound of blood and guts spilling as the children were slaughtered by the soldiers and tanks. A few soldiers even used machetes and knifes to slash the children to death, all in all it was a total blood bath to all watching and all participating in it. Robin could only sob into Slade's shirt as the blood spewed, he held his elephant plush Peanut close along with Ace as the pup whimpered and whined in fear of his masters emotions. Slade was also watching, but he was not as emotional as Robin, he needed to be strong in front of the boy. For his sake.

As the fight finally ended, Brother Blood and his men departed. Slade slowly opened the door to the closet with Robin still in his arms as he walked back into the now night time covered outside, he sighed as he put Robin down, he had no idea what to do now that this was over. Now the boy was truly alone, parents and family dead, no friends, just himself, a dog and a stuffed animal for company. Slade pitied him, he himself had gone through quite alot as a boy, but this... this was too much for anyone person to handle without anyone to lean on.

It was decided, or at least, Slade would try. "Robin?" He asked.

Robin sniffed as he looked up at Slade.

"Robin... do you want to come with me... I'm going to make Brother Blood pay for what he did. Do you want to come along, its better then being alone at least." Slade offered the child.

Robin hesitated before taking Slade's hand. "Just one thingy... don't leave me too, okay?" He asked.

Slade nodded. "Its a promise." He answered.

And with that, the two disappeared with only themselves, a few supplies, Ace, a security blanket and Peanut.

Preview For Next Chapter: Slade and Robin arrive in a small village only to find out that Robin has contracted a terrible fever, resulting in both of them flashing back to old memories of Robin's childhood and of Slade's days with his children.

A/N: An especially long chapter with a bunch of development... so, please R&R!

~Supercasey.